1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the preparation of vanadium-containing mixed metal salt or soap complexes as solutions in organic solvents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Solvent-soluble metal salts or soaps, including vanadium salts or soaps, have been shown to have utility as driers for paints, varnishes and printing inks, as lubricant additives, and as catalysts for chemical reactions. Stewart (Official Digest, June 1954. p. 413-25) described the high degree of activity of vanadium naphthenate as a paint drier. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,336, Baker disclosed curing accelerators for unsaturated polyester resins that comprise mixtures of stannous salts and vanadium salts. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,363, Koch et al disclosed the use of vanadium compounds, such as vanadium naphthenate, as promoters for the hydroperoxide catalysis of unsaturated polyester resins. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,250, Sugarman disclosed the utility of vanadium soaps, in combination with iron soaps or cobalt soaps, as catalysts for the oxidation of n-butane to produce acetic acid. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,645, Vangermain et al described a process for the epoxidation of olefins using a catalyst comprised of, for example, a mixture of vanadium naphthenate and an octoate or naphthenate of cobalt, nickel, or manganese.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,508, Meidert disclosed a process for preparing metal naphthenates, including vanadium naphthenate, by a double-decomposition reaction between aqueous solutions of salts of the desired metal and aqueous solutions of alkali metal naphthenates, in the absence of volatile organic solvents. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,972, Kollar described a process for making vanadium salts by reacting V.sub.2 O.sub.5 with oxalic acid to form vanadium oxalate, followed by replacement of the oxalate group by a monocarboxylic acid. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,417,429, McLennan disclosed a process for preparing lubricating greases that comprises the formation of complex basic soaps in which at least two metals are present by saponification in mineral oil, in the presence of oxygen and at temperatures of at least 400.degree. F. One of the metals may be vanadium.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,890,232, Rogers et al disclosed a method of making soaps of metals of Group II of the periodic table that comprises reacting metal oxides or hydroxides with higher fatty acids in the presence of 0.5-3.0 mols of water per mol of metal compound. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,041, Nowak et al disclosed a process for the preparation of oil-soluble metal soaps by the reaction of organic acids with finely-divided metals in the presence of water, and alternatively in the presence of air. The metals that can be used in this process include aluminum, strontium, lead, cobalt, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, and nickel.